1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to simulation, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method of simulating a wireless sensor network to test and optimize a large-scale wireless sensor network to be used to monitor environments and/or ecosystems, and to manage forest fire and flood.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wireless sensor network to be used to monitor environments and/or ecosystems, and to manage forest fire and flood is installed outdoors. According to the purpose, a variety of sensors, including an image sensor, an ultrasound sensor, an infrared sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, and an illumination sensor are disposed to build a system collecting sensing information in real time in a wide area. Accordingly, this wireless sensor network is much influenced by space information such as topography and a feature on the earth and when a network is designed, it is essential to consider the characteristics of sensors, and limited resources (batteries, memories, and CPUs) of sensor nodes. In order to optimize this sensor network, a simulation is generally performed beforehand.
Conventional technologies related to the network simulation are broadly broken down into a sensor network simulation technology and an optimization simulation technology for a wireless mobile communication network and/or a local area network (LAN).
The sensor network simulation technology provides a framework with which a virtual wireless sensor network is built and tested. However, only a sensor network, including a network model of a sensor node and a battery model, and simple environment information are considered and the characteristic of a sensor attached to a sensor node and 3-dimensional (3D) geographical space information at which an actual sensor node is positioned are not considered. Accordingly, the sensor network simulation technology is not appropriate to be used for analyzing the cost and effect of establishing an actual large-scale outdoor sensor network.
The optimization simulation technology for a wireless mobile communication network and/or a LAN is a technology to determine the position of a base station or router and/or hub and/or switch through a comparison and analysis function based on information of a base station, communication coverage, and 2D or 3D geographical information. Accordingly, it is difficult to utilize this technology for design and optimization of a wireless sensor network formed with sensor nodes each built as a small-sized system and having limited resources.